Walmart's Early Black Friday sale started on Thursday, November 12, online and in stores — but the best of it was kept behind a velvet rope. A handful of online-only “hot Deal drops” were reserved for Walmart+ members for the first 24 hours. At 12:01 a.m. ET today, Friday, November 13, those drops opened to everyone, while supplies last. If you waited, the wait is over — and the clock is now the problem, because the deepest discounts in a sale like this do not last the weekend.
The Early Black Friday event runs through Sunday, November 15, and it is the first of three separate Black Friday events Walmart is running this year, ending with a Cyber Monday sale that wraps up December 2. But the drops that opened at midnight are the ones to check first: they are the deals Walmart held back, and they are the ones most likely to disappear.
The deals worth grabbing first
Start with the headphones. Beats Solo4 wireless headphones are $69, down from $199.99 — the single most talked-about deal of the opening day, and the kind of price that does not survive a weekend. Apple AirPods 4 are $89, down from $129.99, and the Apple Watch Series 11 (GPS) is $299, down from $399.
The TV deals are just as sharp. A VIZIO 50-inch Quantum 4K QLED smart TV is $128. Step up and the 58-inch model is $178, the 65-inch is $248, and a Hisense 75-inch 4K Roku TV is $328, down from $668. If you have been waiting all year for a big screen at a small price, this is the window.
For the home, the Dyson V12 Detect Slim cordless vacuum is $430, down from $730, and the Shark FlexStyle air styling and drying system is $199. In the kitchen, the Ninja Crispi 4-quart glass air fryer is $89, down from $139, and the Nespresso Vertuo Pop coffee and espresso maker is $69. And the Dell 15.6-inch touchscreen laptop with a Core i5, 8GB of RAM and a 512GB SSD is $429, down from $849.99 — half price for a machine that covers school, work and everything in between.
The phone deal is easy to miss and worth a look: an unlocked Samsung Galaxy S25 Plus is $680. And for gifts, the prices get almost silly — Yahtzee for $5, a LEGO DUPLO My First Animal Train set for $10, a LEGO Star Wars Gingerbread AT-AT Walker for $28 (down from $72.95) and a LEGO up-scaled Santa minifigure for $28 (down from $75). A $20 budget covers Yahtzee, Candy Land and the LEGO DUPLO train before tax.
How the three events work
Walmart is not doing one Black Friday this year — it is doing three. Event 1, Early Black Friday, runs November 12 to 15. Event 2 runs November 23 to 29, covering Thanksgiving week, and the Cyber Monday sale wraps the whole thing up on December 2. Walmart stores are closed on Thanksgiving Day itself, Thursday, November 26, and open at 6 a.m. on Friday, November 27.
The structure matters because the deals are not all live at once. Some items in each event are Walmart+ member drops first, then open to everyone — the same pattern as the midnight unlock today. If something you want shows “Join Walmart+” instead of a price, it is a member drop, and it opens to everyone when its window ends.
How to shop it without missing out
A few practical notes before you start adding things to a cart. Prices change fast during these events, and a deal listed in the morning can be gone by the evening — check the price on the product page itself, and check the color, size or model, because the headline price does not always apply to every variant. Shipping is free on orders over $35, and Walmart+ members — $12.95 a month or $98 a year — get free shipping on everything, plus first access to the drops.
Gaming, LEGO and the rest of the drop list
The gaming deals are thinner than the TV deals, but there are real finds. The Xbox 25th Anniversary controller is back in stock at $79, while supplies last. Ghost of Tsushima Director's Cut is $29.99, and the PS5 Slim Digital bundle is $699.99, down from $749.99. On the premium end, the LG C5 OLED evo is $939.95 for the 55-inch model — a reported saving of $330.04 — and $1,680.25 for the 77-inch.
The toy aisle is where the discounts get deepest — up to 55 percent off across the department. Hasbro's Jenga Classic is $5, down from $14.99, and the LEGO deals keep coming: the Pokémon Arcanine set is $98.99, down from $109.99. Overall, the sale runs to discounts of up to 88 percent off across electronics, vacuums, kitchen gear, toys, beauty and holiday décor, according to DealNews' roundup of the top 100 deals. The trick, as ever, is that the deepest cuts are the first to sell out — and the drops that opened at midnight are exactly the ones with the deepest cuts.
The midnight unlock is the best moment of this first event to shop: the full drop list is now open, the weekend crowds have not arrived yet, and the deepest discounts are still in stock. By Sunday, when Event 1 ends, the list will look very different. If the Beats headphones or the $128 TV are on your list, today is the day — not tomorrow.
